Molecular Characterization and Antimicrobial Resistance in Salmonella spp. isolated from food in Cambodia

Multidrug resistant S. enterica serovars have been spreading all around the world. Because of antimicrobial resistance, Salmonella has become a more serious health and societal threats in recent years due to ineffective antibiotic treatment. Thus, the main objective of this project is to address epidemiological links between geography and source of S. enterica, and how that affects genomic evolution and spread of antimicrobial resistant (AMR) among S. enterica from meat and leafy green vegetable in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

There are three expected output from this research including: 1) Prevalence report of Salmonella spp. in raw animal meats and vegetables in Phnom Penh markets; 2) Understanding the Antimicrobial Resistance pattern among selected Salmonella serovar isolated from meats and vegetables in Phnom Penh markets and its genetic linking with bacterial community; and 3) Comparing the efficiency between culture technique and metagenomics in Salmonella spp. detection. Several analytical methods are included in this study including standard culture technique, biochemical confirmation, molecular and serological methods, genome sequence analysis.

After this project has been completed, information about the prevalence of Salmonella in various raw foods in Cambodia will be established, as well as phenotypic characteristics of antimicrobial resistant salmonella strains, and new data on genes conferring antimicrobial resistance.